Missing
by SingOff-Key
Summary: She weighs both options in her mind. And she decides she doesn't want to find out. Not just yet. Series Part 2 of Maddy & Archer Their Story Continued


She waits two weeks after his call comes in to start going through the contacts he gave her, trying to set up a meeting with Simmons for Solomon. Ten days pass before Archer's contacts in Van de Kaap reach out to her and they agree to a meeting.

The whole situation feels surreal, like she's living one of those spy thriller box office hits. Only Maddy is a journalist and her life itself is in a sense a fast-paced, action-packed thriller. And so much more than that most people will probably never understand!

To her, it's about opening ignorant eyes and helping raise the voice of the suffering innocents. It's about love, loss and redemption. When she began researching on blood diamonds a few months ago, she never expected this story to affect her personally. Sure, she writes a lot of stories, but -rule number one in journalism- she must avoid _becoming_ the story.

Except this time she finds it hard to not make _him_ her story. Archer. The man who sacrificed himself for another man, whom he barely knew and originally wanted to steal from, to get his family back. The man who made it possible for a young boy to go to school and study in a university rather than lead the life of a professional killer, like Archer had. The man who gave her the reason to wake up every morning after he was gone.

A week after the details about the meeting have been arranged, she brings Solomon to London. They meet on the sidewalk, next to a telephone booth. A red bus and a few black cabs as well as other vehicles pass them by on either side of the busy street. But everyone seems oblivious to the emotional reunion taking place in front of them, with Solomon offering Maddy his large shoulder to cry on, as she collapses into his arms.

"It is okay, Miss Bowen. Everything will be fine." he tries to soothe, gently rubbing her back with one hand, while she sobs desperately into his white, cotton shirt.

Not more than a week passes and she finds herself at a private airport, just outside the city of London, the photographing lens a faithful witness to the crimes Van de Kaap have unremorsefully committed and continue to commit under the noses of both entire states and their unsuspecting people. Maddy, an experienced photographer next to journalist, doesn't let even a single shot escape her camera.

Now it's time to start writing the article. It's high time Van de Kaap paid for all the harm they've done.

That night it's late when she goes to bed and she wakes up early in the morning. Nothing unusual in that. Except for her dizziness and upset stomach.

_Damn you, Archer._ she thinks, rinsing her mouth and splashing cold water on her face, then briefly looking up in the mirror, only to be met with her own tired gaze.

They stay in London for another week, during which Maddy manages to finish her article despite her feeling under the weather._BLOOD DIAMONDS: A Trail of Terror from the Jungles to the Jewelers_ it is entitled and on the last page it features a black- and-white picture she had taken of Archer the day they said their goodbyes at the company base. He looks astoundingly good in it, although she has to admit that the photo was a last minute addition.

Her article finished the previous day and having decided which photos would go along with it, she spends the last morning of their stay in London in her hotel room, lying on her bed and cursing Archer- not because she wants to, but mainly because her dizziness has gotten to the point where she can't ignore it.

She has her suspicions, of course. Her eldest sisters, Alicia and Natalie, who have had children have talked to her about the signs and symptoms. And everything she's been experiencing the past few weeks is most definitely pointing towards this direction.

She slowly stands up from the bed and walks over to the chest of drawers, where a pregnancy test sits on top next to her handbag. She takes it in her hands and turns it over absentmindedly, thinking.

Positive would mean she will have to raise a child on her own, a child she's not sure she can be a good mother to. A child she's not sure she can explain to who their father was and the circumstances under which they were conceived. Still, there's a selfish part in her that wants the test to be positive because it would mean he's not entirely gone. On the other hand, negative would be like he died all over again.

She weighs both options in her mind. And she decides she doesn't want to find out. Not just yet. She buries the pregnancy test deep in one of the drawers and goes back to the comfort of her bed.

Her eyes slide closed and she drifts off to sleep, dreaming back to the day they first laid eyes on each other from across that bar in Freetown...


End file.
